Auburn officers rally for co-worker

An epidemic of baldness and short hair is expected to start this weekend among Auburn police officers and others who support Auburn Police Officer Stephanie L. Segur's fight against cancer.

Officer Segur, 28, was diagnosed May 30 with anaplastic large-cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a particularly aggressive and rare form of cancer.

Her last day on the job was the overnight shift of June 18-19. Chemotherapy began June 21, the first day of summer.

Her introduction to cancer began last month, when she noticed a golf-ball-size lump under her arm.

“It was painful and hard,” she said.

Her older brother, Timothy J. Segur, said, “I told her to get it checked out.”

At first, she was told it was just a cyst, but when the painful lump grew to the size of a tennis ball, she decided to get a second opinion. A biopsy of two lymph nodes found one was malignant.

“I was told mine was a rare, aggressive form of the disease, and that only 3 percent of non-Hodgkin's is the type I have, and only one in three of that 3 percent are women. The good news is that it is super-curable,” Officer Segur said.

She is under the care of hematologist-oncologist Dr. Eric D. Jacobsen at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

A port was embedded in her chest, through which six chemotherapy treatments will be given once every three weeks.

One of the side effects she can expect is hair loss, which might have greatly saddened other pretty blonde beauties, but roused Officer Segur to action.

“It's something I have to go through. A lot of this is out of my control, but if I can control one thing, I will,” she said.

She decided to preemptively shave her head.

Her brother said he would do the same in support of his sister, and then her best friend, Christina Bowes Berardi, decided to cut her hair short as a show of support.

“I asked Tina if others might be interested. Word spread, and so far 200 have registered for haircuts or shaves. It started small, but grew,” Mr. Segur said.

He decided to host an event, Shave It for Steph, where Ms. Segur and Ms. Berardi will be among those to have their hair cut or shaved by volunteer hairdressers.

Everyone is invited to participate in the fundraiser to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute from 2 to 6 p.m. June 30 at CrossFit CenterMass, 333 Shrewsbury St., Worcester. Mr. Segur is co-owner, manager and trainer there. A $10 donation will be collected at the door. Those who shave their heads will receive a free T-shirt and five free raffle tickets.

Mr. Segur said several local businesses have donated raffle baskets for the event.

“No one has to shave their head or cut their hair. Anyone can show their support for Steph just by donating and joining the festivities.”

He said there will be food, music, drinks and fun.

All collected hair will be donated to Locks of Love, which provides hair pieces to disadvantaged children with medical hair loss, and to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, which provides wigs to adult cancer patients.

Among those signed up for a shave is Auburn Police Detective Sgt. Jeffrey A. Lourie, chairman of the School Committee.

He said. “It's only hair. It will grow back. The Police Department and the Auburn Police Association will do what we can to help. She will be a focus of our `Relay for Life' team this fall as well.”

Police Chief Andrew J. Sluckis said, “Stephanie is a great person and a terrific police officer. We'll miss her, but will be glad when she comes back.”

He said that, unfortunately, the Police Department is “all too familiar with cancer.” Officer Eric Snay was 31 when he died March 7, 2002, after a seven-month battle with brain cancer.

Officer Segur expects to miss about six months of work.

She said, “You're not handed anything you can't deal with. I can't wait for this to be over and to get back to work. I love my job.”

Donations in any amount, with checks made out to the “Dana-Farber Cancer Institute” or the “Jimmy Fund,” with a notation “in honor of Officer Stephanie Segur,” can be dropped off at CrossFit CenterMass in Worcester or be sent to Timothy Segur, 10 Fairchild Drive, Holden, MA 01520.